


Unearthed

by kaghani



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe, Avatar!Asami, F/F, F/M, RichGirl!Korra, Slow Burn, sad!Linzin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:33:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26241190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaghani/pseuds/kaghani
Summary: After Avatar Aang dies, The Water Avatar (who is not Korra), is tragically slain by the Red Lotus when he is still a baby. The next Avatar is an earth bender named Asami Sato.This is a Book 1 AU where Korra is the "Spoiled Little Rich Girl", and Asami is the Avatar.
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato, Lin Beifong/Tenzin
Comments: 15
Kudos: 34





	Unearthed

**Author's Note:**

> Generous helpings of Linzin in the first chapter. It sad :(

_Winter of 155, AG. Air Temple Island._

“Knock, knock.” Lin’s gravelly voice was barely a whisper in the silent chamber.

Tenzin felt Lin come in way before she announced herself. Like a coward, he remained in his meditative pose – eyes closed, cross-legged. His fists were pressed together. If Lin noticed how they clenched a little from nerves, she didn’t say anything; after all, Tenzin wasn’t the only one capable of using his bending element to detect disturbances in his surroundings.

Seconds ticked by on the downstairs clock. Then, minutes. Lin had quietly taken a seat on the floor near the door, waiting for Tenzin to finish meditating.

_What a thoughtful girlfriend Lin is,_ Tenzin thought. And then a crushing sense of guilt threatened to break his flesh out in sweat, betraying him. _Calm_ , he told himself, _be calm._ When talking to Lin about relationship-things, Tenzin always had to be very calm.

Slowly, Tenzin blinked open his eyes. He watched as Lin looked up at him from her hands, giving him a smile. It was the one smile that Tenzin knew she reserved especially for him, the one that made her jade eyes shine. It was the smile that got him through difficult times in his life – when Sokka died and, most recently, when his father died.

After Lin stopped speaking to her mother and sister, Tenzin was afraid she would never smile like that again. But she and Tenzin grew closer, and Lin allowed herself to be vulnerable and enjoy the tenderness between them. If you asked Tenzin months ago, he would say that he was happy to be the source of positivity in Lin’s life. But ever since Pema confessed her feelings to Tenzin a few weeks back, he started to admit to himself the truth that he denied for so long – for ten years, Tenzin had carried the burden of being the one person Lin talked to – _actually_ talked to. He let her talk too much, he talked too little. And he’d started to seriously resent her for it.

Even worse: the spark of affection that Tenzin used to feel when Lin smiled at him like that… it was gone.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Lin asked, raising a brow until it disappeared under her bangs. She smirked at Tenzin.

_Cute_ , he thought. _Beautiful, cute, brilliant. Kind. What’s not to like?_

Another part of his brain answered that question, but he ignored it.

“Hey, Lin.” He got up and walked over to Lin, reaching down for her. She took his hands, and he pulled her to her feet. In the white wintery light, Lin’s eyes glittered. Pema’s eyes were green, too. But a deeper green than Lin’s, like emeralds. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“You kept me waiting for weeks,” Lin said, reaching a hand out to stroke his cheek, and he almost flinched. “You wouldn’t even call back. I missed you. Are you doing ok?”

_I’m not doing ok,_ Tenzin thought. _I’m avoiding you. I’m avoiding you, because somehow, I realized I’ve fallen out of love with you. I don’t know when, but I only realized when the acolyte – the acolyte we used to joke was following me everywhere – confessed to me that she loves me. She told me that she knows I want a family. She knows I want to raise a new generation of airbenders. And I’ve never told you how much I want that, because I know how little you want children, and I’m scared that if I tell you, we’ll break up and you’ll never talk to me again. I’m scared you’ll never talk to anyone again. You’ve lost so much. But I’m losing so much, too._

“Are you missing your dad?” Lin asked, concerned.

“No, no, it’s not that,” Tenzin said quickly, resenting the way Lin’s forehead creased. He couldn’t have her being worried about him, not when he’s been thinking about… He tightened his grip on Lin’s hands briefly, just before loosening it. “I’ve been thinking, Lin – I’ve been –”

_Rrrrrrrring!_

They both snapped out of the weird trance, and their eyes flicked away from each other and toward the study. Tenzin faltered.

_Rrrrrrrring!_

……

_Rrrrrrrring!_

“I… should get that.”

“Sure.”

Tenzin made a beeline for the study. He picked up the mike and the receiver. “Yes?”

* * *

He’d been avoiding her. He’d been avoiding her and she knew it.

There had been nothing but radio silence from Tenzin in the past two weeks. He usually called at least every other night, even when things were very busy for him. And now, suddenly, without explanation, he had her come to Air Temple Island. And for what? When she got there, he very calmly continued meditating for a whole ten minutes. It was like he wasn’t even excited to see her. Lin did her best to stay calm – she always had to stay calm when she talked to Tenzin about relationship stuff.

The last time he’d been this way, Aang had died. Almost two years ago. It had been a crushing blow for Lin; Aang and Katara had been the reliable adults in her life. Aang was a caring, compassionate soul who’d actually been there for Lin when she needed an adult. Not just that; when Aang died, Katara moved to the South Pole. Lin had cried for seven nights straight.

But it was nothing compared to what Tenzin felt. Losing the only other airbender in the world, his father, the one who taught him the ways of airbending, devastated him. When Lin would go to see him, he would be distant and ask for space. So she gave him space. But gradually, Tenzin had come out of it and sought her out. And Lin was happy to be there for him.

This time… something was up.

_Someone…?_ asked a voice in her head. Lin wanted to immediately dismiss it. But Lin Beifong was not stupid. She knew about that young acolyte and her crush on Tenzin. And Tenzin…

Lin didn’t want to lose Tenzin. He was her best friend, he was her… family. Lin tended to not put stock in the word “family” anymore, but Tenzin was family. In the broadest sense of the word. Tenzin _had_ to feel the same way about her, right? Lin commented occasionally that the two of them, _just_ the two of them, was more than enough for her. What if…?

Tenzin sounded anxious over the phone. There was a lot of “what!” and “how can that be?!” and “impossible!” – Lin hoped everything was ok.

She stood from a bench when Tenzin hung up and met her in the meditation chamber again. He looked thoroughly disheveled and downright spooked.

“That was my mother. It’s terrible news, Lin,” Tenzin said, cupping a hand against his bald head. “Young Avatar Haluek was killed last night.”

“What?!”

“Yes, I’m afraid it’s true. They broke into his parents’ home near my mother’s village. It seems they had tried to kidnap the child, but his father, Tonraq, resisted. There was a skirmish, and Tonraq was injured. But the Avatar was killed by accident.”

“Accident!” Lin challenged, “How can you kill a child by accident?”

“It was a terrorist group led by Xai Bao. They call themselves the Red Lotus. My father told me about them, he and To – he and your mother once battled Xai Bao. He was a notorious anarchist. My mother believes that the Red Lotus was trying to abduct the young Avatar and raise him in their philosophy of chaos. But tragically – they killed the Avatar in trying to fight off his father. I can’t imagine how devastated Tonraq must be.”

Lin’s head spun. “Have… have these criminals been apprehended?!”

“No… that’s the other part, Lin. Lord Zuko, Tonraq, and mom are helping the White Lotus catch these terrorists. It’s kind of a secret for now, to prevent sympathizers from helping them. And then…” Tenzin trailed off.

“What?” Lin asked, doing her very best to not yell at him to spit it out.

“Well, if these criminals are capable of killing one child, accident or not, they are capable of killing another. Lin, mom is asking us to go around the Earth Kingdom. We must discover the identity of the new Avatar, and protect this child.”

Well.

Lin was not expecting that.

“Wont you accept, Lin? You were the greatest detective on the force.”

_Suck-up_.

“I’ll have to put the deputy in charge,” Lin hears herself say.

* * *

  
Another six months would pass before Tenzin broke up with Lin. And she wasn’t even completely wrong about there being someone else.

* * *

End Chapter 1


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